I think the key here is the word ‘citizenship’. Let’s try this again.
Five grand, to be here legally. No going back to your country for a year, that’s just stupid.
But what kind of… let’s call it a ‘yellow card’, rights would they have that would allow them to be here legally, but not full citizens?
There are people in Mexico who also choose to jump through the hoops and come here legally. Even poor ones I would guess. Unless you’re of the mind that all Mexicans must take the illegal route.
Why do you suppose Mexicans take the illegal route?
Some Mexicans take the illegal route, I’d guess, for two reasons. They are able to make considerably more money here to help themselves and their families. And it is fairly easy to do so. That does not mean it is easy, and it is more difficult now than just a few years ago.
Do you think differently?
You make considerably less money as an illegal than you do as a legal resident.
I’m gonna go with “because it’s incredibly hard, and takes an incredibly long time for an average Mexican to get a legal worker’s permit”.
Maybe, but that was never the intention. In the landmark case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the parents were here legally under a resident visa. The case then established that children born in the United States of LEGAL immigrants were natural-born citizens. The question hinges upon the meaning in the XIVth amendment of the phrase “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof”. SCOTUS completely ignored the meaning that Congress gave to it while debating the amendment (application to Indians born on US soil) and gave it the meaning (reaffirmed in Plyler v Doe) that jurisdiction referred to physical location under the customs of English common law.
The point was that you make considerably more money as an illegal here than you would staying in Mexico.
Well, it would be incredibly hard and take an incredibly long time fro me to be able to buy a Lamborghini, but I don’t think procuring one illegally would be a good idea.
Now I do agree that we have to make it easier for more people to come and work here legally. I favor a large seasonal guest worker program much like I understand Canada’s to be. The way it was explained to me is that seasonal workers can come and go rather easily. But they can come only for eight months at a time. As long as the abide by that, they have work in Canada every year.
Additionally, the intent of the 1866 amendment, if I recall correctly, was to insure that blacks would be treated as full U.S. citizens, particulalry in the new states that were being formed. And it did not apply to all children born on U.S. soil. Children of foreign diplomats were excluded.
Foisting them off? How about American employers luring them north with jobs?
And please, tell me exactly what foriegn aid you are speaking of? A few helicopters or airplanes to fight America’s “War on Drugs”?